The Eternals, a race of immortal beings with
superhuman powers who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years,
reunite to battle the evil Deviants.
Director: Chloé Zhao
Cast: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail
Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don
Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie
Release Date:
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy,
Sci-Fi
Rated PG-13 for fantasy violence and action,
some language and brief sexuality.
Runtime: 2h 37m
Review:
Chloé Zhao’s Eternals is one of the more
interesting entries in the ongoing Marvel series. The mash up of Zhao’s naturalistic style and
superhero tropes results in a character focused film that’s more interested in
the smaller moments than big action sequences.
As such, it has a different feel than most of these films do while still
accomplishing the usual Marvel albeit at a glacial pace. It has an odd pace that drains the
proceedings of any urgency even though it’s literally dealing with end of the
world stakes. Intermixing flashbacks
with present day events drains the film of any sense of forward momentum since
neither section get enough time to gain any sort of real traction. Luckily the incredibly diverse cast makes the
slog more bearably with earnest performances.
Gemma Chan and Richard Madden do the heavy lifting for the majority of
the film with each providing a steady stoicism to their duo. The large
supporting cast each get their moments to shine during the film with Lia McHugh,
Brian Tyree Henry and Barry Keoghan leaving the biggest impressions. Angelina Jolie does well as the tortured
warrior whose being crushed under the weight of her memories. Salma Hayek gets a scant few moments to shine
but ultimately the film waste her with an underwritten role. Eternals tries hard to be sweeping and epic
but it never really achieves it, only skirting with it during it’s hefty
runtime.
B-
